Mr. R Channabasavaiah
former Statistical Assitant
30.11.1994
Of all the persons I have met and worked for, I
would say Dr Raj Narain stands out. His knowledge was immense. He
would be attentive to everything, he would assess every point of
work and he knew every worker personally. He always wanted the research
worker to be open minded, industrious and to strive towards perfection.
When a mistake was noticed he would call all the persons involved
so that they would understand and learn from it. He would gently
say mistakes do occur; be cautious and dont repeat it. It
is wiser to take guidance than hide it. All the time he was smiling
and would welcome any one any time, whatever the problem. He was
so dynamic, nobody could sit by his side and be idle. The way he
arranged the masses of data into tables and interpreted them was
extraordinary. While with statisticians, he was a statistician yet,
he was the topmost doctor among doctors. He would come with a book
of statistics and give it to statisticians and ask them to explain
a point. Later he would explain how he had understood it.
In the field, he was incomparable. His first priority
was to the people with whom he would interact and get them to talk.
There were days he worked as a secretary and even carried the petromax.
He allowed total freedom to field workers and always stood by them
and attended to their problems on priority. He set a very tight
work schedule for himself and for the teams and often worked late
into the night. Even in old age he worked hard. The last I saw him
was in 1984 when he came to NTI as WHO short-time consultant. This
time he was immersed in the implications of BCG scar disappearance.
His life was dedicated to TB. He was living with his son in Canada
and he told me of a TB control project he wanted that country to
take up! Later, he died at Delhi while working at ICMR for BCG Trial
I would like to add Dr AK Chakrabortys name
along with Dr Raj Narain. Dr Chakraborty was also a scientist of
high calibre and great dedication. His work potential was immense.
He had an additional capacity in creating scientists out of others!
I feel he has created many. He had a broad outlook. I benefited
immensely. Even today after retirement he is busy in the field of
TB.
|